EDWARDSVILLE, Illinois (AP) — A man who admitted in court to tearing off the head of a kitten after a fight with his girlfriend has been sentenced to two years in prison.

When it comes to animal abuse cases, “we don’t get prison sentences all the time, so it’s always good when we do,” Stephanee Smith, a spokeswoman for the Madison County state’s attorney’s office, said Tuesday of the case against Jacob Thornton.

Thornton, 21, was to have had a preliminary hearing last Thursday on the felony animal torture charge but instead pleaded guilty, Smith said.

A judge ordered Thornton’s sentence to run concurrently to a prison term related to a parole violation on a 2005 aggravated battery conviction.

Authorities say that after a July 28 dispute between Thornton and his live-in girlfriend, the 30-year-old woman left the home before returning to find her kitten’s head and detached body in the front yard.

Four days after he was charged with animal torture, Thornton was also charged with burglarizing a motor vehicle. That case is pending.